91 points,

James Suckling, jamessuckling.com, March 2013

Blueberries and juicy orange. Sweet licorice, freshly toasted walnuts and some coffee. Sweet and full with a juicy ripe acidity on the palate. Vibrant and focused with fine tannins. There is depth of fruit here. Needs a little time to show it. Drink from 2015.

Jancis Robinson, April 2011

There is some nobility here. Smooth and polished and just a little restrained within the Pomerol mould. Very suave. But needs lots of time. Very dry (not drying) finish. 17 out of 20

Neal Martin's Wine Journal, April 2011

Tasted at the Syndicat de Pomerol. The Vieux Maillet has a very intense, glossy, generous bouquet of blueberry, iodine and macerated black cherries clocked in warm alcohol. The palate is medium-bodied with good acidity on the entry, quite compact with rather sharp tannins that lend freshness, but render the finish a little angular for the vintages. This should mellow and coalesce by the time of bottling. Very fine.

90 points,

Wine Spectator, January 2013

Creamy and inviting, featuring freshly picked plum and blackberry notes gilded with floral, bergamot and light vanilla shadings. Picks up a lightly firm dusting on the finish, but the fruit remains very pretty. Drink now through 2020. -JM

About Winery

Unlike appellations in the Médoc, Pomerol is not an appellation known for its vast estates. Vieux Maillet is small even by Pomerol standards, with a mere 2.6 hectares of vineyards compared to the regional average holding of 6 or 7 hectares. The terroir of Pomerol is singular: made up of clay soils, layers of sand, and traces of iron nuggets that give its terroir a unique character. This heavier, colder soil is particularly suited to earlier ripening Merlot, giving its wines more depth and concentration than usually encountered in this grape variety. Cabernet Franc does well on the better-drained plots while Cabernet Sauvignon has difficulty ripening correctly on these soils and thus is not encountered much in Pomerol.

The vineyards of Vieux Maillet are 30 years old on average and are made up of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. Isabelle, Baudoin and their team carefully look after their vineyards during the growing season, pulling leaves and thinning the clusters if necessary to make sure that each bunch gets the sunlight and air it needs to ripen and stay healthy. Vieux Maillet yields on average 43 hl/ha in comparison to the usual 50 to 53 permitted by law.

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